


Tampering with the Mistletoe

by prompt_fills



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 02:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17275703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/pseuds/prompt_fills
Summary: “Fuck no,” Sergio snarls as he slams his fists against the invisible barrier that is keeping him in place.





	Tampering with the Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Esparafuso](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esparafuso/gifts).



> My eternal gratitude to [Esparafuso](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esparafuso/), who has been a great enthusiast and single-handedly cheerleaded this fic into existence.
> 
> [Furia_Roja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Furia_Roja/pseuds/Furia_Roja)'s lovely translation into **Russian** avaiable [HERE!](https://ficbook.net/readfic/8233731)

“Fuck no,” Sergio snarls as he slams his fists against the invisible barrier that is keeping him in place.

He gets out his wand and tries to poke through the barrier, then tries to cast every dissolving charm he can think of. There’s not many he remembers but he tries.

Luka stops gaping like a fish but he doesn’t say anything and the next minute passes in tense silence.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Sergio grunts as he gives the barrier a kick. And then another for a good measure. Trying to get through the barrier using physical force won’t yield any results. Sergio knows this because he made sure the mistletoe’s victims couldn’t get away. He didn’t account for himself getting caught in own trap. “Fuck this shit.”

The kicks have no effect, aside from providing an outlet for Sergio’s pent-up frustration. He tries setting the dangling sprig of mistletoe on fire but predictably, it withstands the heat without as much as a single leaf succumbing to the flames. The same can’t be said about Sergio’s robes which now feature a new burnt-through hole. Trying to get out of the trap of his own doing is harder than he thought it would be. Normally, he’d blame his less than stellar skills when it comes to spells and charms but in this particular case, he knows anyone would get the same dissatisfying results. 

“Sergio.”

“Hang on. I almost have it.” There has to be a way. Something he forgot about. A loophole that will let him get out of this situation with his head high and his heart intact.

“C’mon Sergio, it’s past the curfew and we need to get back to the dorms.”

“I know, it’s why I’m trying to make it let us go out,” Sergio forces through his teeth. “I mean go. Let us go. Or let us out.”

Luka keeps looking at him, brows furrowed in confusion.

 _“Reducto!”_ Sergio shouts but the curse passes through the mistletoe and leaves it unharmed. _“Defodio!”_

“Sergio,” Luka says and makes it sound like a reprimand. Luka steps closer, taking a hold of Sergio’s hand, forcing him to lower his wand. “That won’t achieve anything. Let’s just kiss.”

Sergio looks down at Luka. Luka looks down to study the floor.

Sergio snorts. “I think not.” Because the mistletoe under which they got trapped is no ordinary mistletoe. It’s one that Sergio charmed himself so that it would seek out couples-to-be. Students who were too shy to confess their love for each other would be trapped and the mistletoe would keep the barrier up, not allowing them to leave until they spoke of their feelings. Sergio wanted this to be his Christmas gift to Lucas. Merlin knows he’s been trying to get him together with Toni since the semester begun. The mistletoe presented a perfect plan. If people were pining, it wouldn’t let them out until they confessed. Lucas was definitely pining and it was clear that Toni was, too.

Sergio made up the spell himself and at the time he felt rather proud of himself because he came up with a spell that would only focus on pairs whose feelings were mutual. That was the plan anyway. Either he must have somehow screwed up, which wouldn’t be all that surprising, or the mistletoe tapped into his magic as he was the one to create it and it decided to fulfil his wish. That must have been it, the mistletoe knew Sergio’s desires and decided to act out. Which is how he got stuck here with Luka. And Luka didn’t suspect a thing. “Damn.”

“You’ve tried everything, c’mon, Sergio. You can survive one kiss with me. I don’t want that blasted cat to find us and Mourinho to deduct points.” Luka is looking at him with his eyes wide and his face earnest and Sergio can’t lie to him.

“Kissing won’t work,” Sergio says. He might suck at spells and he’s not failing Transfiguration only because of Zizou’s kindness but damn it, he knows he got that part of the spellwork right. It’s just that the mistletoe took Sergio’s feelings for Luka into account and now it’s trying to get them together.

“It’s a charmed mistletoe, Sergio, that’s _exactly_ how it works.”

Sergio shakes his head. “Not this one.”

“How do you know? It’s worth a shot. If Mourinho catches us and finds out we’ve been out flying again he’ll make sure we’re off the team for real this time.” Luka grabs Sergio’s arm, yanking him closer as he leans in, expression determined. Sergio almost let it happen. Almost.

“It won’t work,” he repeats, placing his arm between them as he pushes Luka back.

Luka resist the push, pulling on Sergio’s hand to drag it lower, making Sergio stumble close to him. Before Sergio has any time to react, Luka is already leaning up and pressing a quick peck of a kiss to Sergio’s lips. Sergio’s lips tingle with the sensation and he feels horribly cheated. It takes all he has not to follow Luka’s lips to steal a proper kiss, claiming that the simple peck didn’t count.

Luka lets go of him. “See? You survived. Now let’s go before anyone finds us.” He takes half a step away, collides with the invisible barrier and bounces back to Sergio. Despite the situation, Sergio laughs when he sees Luka’s incredulous expression. “What the hell?”

“I told you it won’t work, Luka. I knew it because I charmed the mistletoe myself.”

“You charmed, you… what?”

“I charmed it.” And then, before Luka starts asking questions, Sergio volunteers, “It traps people until they confess their love for each other.” Curious to see if that counted as a confession, Sergio pokes the barrier with the tip of his shoe. It doesn’t budge. Figures. “It has to be genuine. And mutual.”

Luka’s voice is unusually high. “So it trapped _us_?”

Sergio hides a wince. “Yeah, it has fucked up. Probably because the mistletoe is keyed to my magic. Sorry.”

“What do you mean, it’s keyed to your magic?”

Sergio resists the urge to fold his arms as a barrier between the two of them. This is not how he pictured Luka finding out about the feelings he’s been harbouring and he quickly tries to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t reveal everything. “I was the one to cast the spell so it probably bears too much trace of my magic and something must have gotten fucked up because well.” Sergio gestures at Luka. “Here we are. You and me.” He manages a derisive snort. He should have known his own feelings were powerful enough to get them trapped under the mistletoe. Stupid Christmas magic.

“Oh.” Luka actually flushes scarlet. Sergio watches the blotchy redness spread across Luka’s cheeks. Luka clears his throat. “So. It needs us to confess?”

Sergio heaves a sigh. “Here’s the kicker. We’re fucked because it only lets people go after their mutual confession. Because it’s supposed to only trap people who are in love with each other.”

Luka sucks in a breath and attempts to take a step away but the stupid mistletoe won’t let him leave.

“Luka, I’m sorry. I’m sorry we’re stuck here because I never wanted this to happen.”

“I see,” Luka says quietly. “I’m sorry too. It’s not actually your fault that it connected to your magic.” Luka doesn’t meet Sergio’s eyes as he talks. “Actually, I think it’s my fault.”

Sergio can’t take it when Luka blames himself for things that aren’t his fault. “That’s nonsense, Luka, it’s me who–”

Luka waves him off and continues, “No interrupting.”

“I’ll try,” Sergio interrupts, then holds up his hands, sheepish.

“I think that when I walked with you under the mistletoe, it trapped us because it already held your magic from the spellcasting and it only added mine into the equation.”

“I don’t follow,” Sergio admits, confused.

Luka’s face is still red. “I’m trying to say that your mistletoe trapped us here because of my feelings, not yours. I’ve liked you for a long time and the mistletoe just, I don’t know, fucked up, like you said.”

Sergio can hardly believe what Luka is saying but if it is true, then it means the mistletoe was right all along.

“I don’t think it fucked up, Luka,” Sergio says, bewildered.

“You mean you also–” Luka doesn’t finish but Sergio is nodding his head and pushing against Luka because yes, on sweet Merlin, _yes_.

For one wonderful moment, Sergio believes the mistletoe was right after all and when Luka presses his lips into his, they’re in no hurry. The time doesn’t matter anymore, it’s just the two of them in their own world where nothing else exists. No curfew, no sneaking cats, no mistletoe. Just the slide of their lips and the way Luka sneaks his hands around Sergio’s neck and tips his head to deepen the kiss.

But then Sergio tries to shift his feet and he doesn’t bump into the barrier and the world comes crashing back. Rather literally because in his surprise, Sergio drops the broom he’s been clutching onto and it clatters to the floor, the sound of wood hitting stone echoing though the empty hallway. The two of them spring apart.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

They look at each other, both of them flustered, and in unison they dive into the nearest hidden corridor that will take them back to the dorms.

Luka has enough wits to call out a soft, _“Lumos!”_ , so they don’t crash into anything in their mad dash. The sad thing about hidden corridors is that there aren’t any torches that would be lighting up the way.

They pause halfway through the corridor, heaving and listening if anyone is following after them. It’s all quiet and Sergio breathes out a sigh of relief. They’re not getting caught after all.

“That was great what you said back there,” Sergio says and Luka goes back to not meeting his eyes. “I thought we’d be stuck in there forever because I didn’t realize the mistletoe would let people lie their way out of it.”

“Lie? I didn’t–” Luka starts but Sergio interrupts him.

“Do you think Toni and Lucas are faking it?” Sergio asks, distressed.

“Toni and Lucas?” Luka repeats slowly.

“Yes. Do they seem to be _too_ happy to you?” Sergio frowns. He thought Toni and Lucas were only acting so sickeningly sweet because they had just gotten together after months of pining but now he’s wondering if they’re just pulling Sergio’s leg. “I charmed the mistletoe because I wanted them to admit their feelings for each other but since you were able to lie to the mistletoe maybe they were able to lie as well to get out.”

“Did _you_ lie?”

Sergio curses his inability to be dishonest with Luka. When he responds, the words are curt, reluctantly dragged out of him. “No, I didn’t.”

Luka lets out a huff. “All right, good. I can work with that. So which spell did you use? To charm the mistletoe.”

“One that I made up myself,” Sergio says and then repeats the spell to Luka. “I just don’t see where I went wrong.”

Luka makes a thoughtful sound, muttering the spell under his breath a few times before concluding, “You didn’t go wrong with this.” Sergio looks at him because that is Luka’s lecturing voice, the one he gets when Sergio snoozes through Divination and then needs Luka’s help putting together a passable essay.

When Luka finishes explaining the theory behind the magical spell, Sergio tries to wrap his head around it. No matter from which angle he looks at it, he’s coming to the same conclusion – the mistletoe worked. Either his spellwork was correct or the sheer strength of his magic powered by the intent of wanting to do the right thing made it work. “So you’re saying there’s no way Toni could have lied his way out of it?”

In the feeble light from Luka’s wand, Sergio sees the small smile on Luka’s face. “Toni definitely couldn’t lie.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Sergio really wanted to see his friends happy.

“Which means,” Luka goes on, “that I couldn’t lie to you either.”

Sergio opens his mouth but no words come out.

“For Merlin’s sake, come here,” Luka says and the effect of his annoyed tone is completely ruined by his smile.

They probably should get back to the dorms first and they shouldn’t make out in the middle of the corridor because even if it’s hidden from plain sight, the blasted cat might sniff them out any moment but no one has ever said Sergio didn’t enjoy a bit of a thrill in his life.


End file.
